Captain proposal row: Retd Army officer HS Panag recalls how he handled such cases
Retired army officer HS Panag's intervention adds to growing list of retired senior military officers who have defended Bhardwaj after videos of the proposal.
"HANDLED" · 총 41건
필터 보기현재 지수
50.3
0 = 부정 우세
50 = 중립
100 = 긍정 우세
최근 7일 기준 86,711건을 분석한 결과, 뉴스 심리지수는 50.2(균형)입니다. 긍정 4,356건(5.0%)·중립 80,212건(92.5%)·부정 2,143건(2.5%)이며, 중립 비중이 뚜렷하게 높습니다. 성향 지수는 종합 14.8(중도 균형)입니다.
Retired army officer HS Panag's intervention adds to growing list of retired senior military officers who have defended Bhardwaj after videos of the proposal.
Former Attorney General Pam Bondi said then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche handled the release of the DOJ's Epstein files.
• Field officers to lose powers to issue notices, conduct audits • Reforms aim to curb collusion, harassment • Phased rollout planned from October ISLAMABAD: The government has approved in principle a plan to introduce a centralised digital tax operating model, under which audits and assessments would be handled by “faceless” wings in Islamabad to reduce official discretion and direct contact between tax officials and taxpayers. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved Pakistan’s New Tax Operating Model on Thursday and commended the tax officials who developed the plan. The model is scheduled for a three-phase rollout beginning in October this year. The centralised and faceless tax model is similar to systems used in the UK, Australia, the Netherlands, Singapore and India. It is designed to eliminate physical contact between tax authorities and taxpayers to prevent corruption. The reforms have been driven by systemic leakages and widespread under-reporting detected by Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (PRAL). Officials said the reforms were not only about curbing collusion or corruption but also about improving weak enforcement. FBR data revealed a major discrepancy in tax compliance: 8,697 individuals holding a combined Rs750 billion in bank deposits officially reported zero income in their tax returns. The same pattern was found across the financial sector, where 98.9 per cent of high-deposit individuals were found to have materially under-reported their bank flows. The real estate sector also showed similar evasion patterns. Despite maintaining active filer status, 80pc of top property purchasers were found to have systematically under-declared their transaction values to avoid their actual fiscal obligations. At present, a single tax official within a Regional Tax Office, Large Taxpayers Office or Corporate Tax Office handles the entire tax cycle — from identification and notice issuance to assessment and recovery. Officials said this concentration of duties granted immense discretionary powers, creating opportunities for taxpayer harassment, under-assessment and compromised recoveries. To address this, the new model introduces separate audit and assessment wings, both operating virtually and facelessly from a centralised hub in Islamabad. Under the proposed plan, Inland Revenue operations will be restructured into three functionally separate wings, each operating with a defined mandate, distinct statutory powers and non-overlapping responsibilities. The new framework will apply uniformly across income tax, sales tax and federal excise duty. The National Faceless Audit Wing (NFAW) will be established in Islamabad and operate from an undisclosed location. This centralised, fully digital and anonymous wing will conduct risk-based audits and continuous monitoring of withholding and advance taxes through a Central Data Hub. Case allocation will be algorithmic, and the wing will have no powers to issue demands or execute recoveries. It will be able to handle any taxpayer across the country. Taxpayers will not be allowed to visit the NFAW or submit manual documents. The National Assessment Wing (NAW), also based in Islamabad, will handle quasi-judicial functions. The anonymous and digital NAW will process assessment orders, show-cause notices, zero-rating refund approvals and exemptions, but will have no mandate for audits or field enforcement. Hearings will be held online, while dedicated hearing rooms will be established at tax offices across the country. The third wing, the Field Operation Wing, will serve as the enforcement arm of the system. It will be responsible for revenue recovery, prosecution, taxpayer registration, field verification and expansion of the tax base, but will have no authority to assess, adjudicate or modify tax demands. Field officers will now focus on data verification, assigned information, taxpayer facilitation and registration. For the first two wings, the government will post around 200 officers strictly on merit, with market-based salaries and enhanced surveillance to ensure credibility, transparency and accountability. The proposed reform is expected to tighten the net around tax evaders while reducing the compliance burden on honest taxpayers. This will be achieved mainly by eliminating officer-dependent compliance, as all interactions will be digitally logged through an online portal, ending direct contact with tax officials. To simplify filing, taxpayers will receive pre-populated returns powered by the Central Data Hub, which will automatically pull salary, banking, property and vehicle data to reduce filing time from hours to minutes. A single integrated taxpayer account will consolidate all income tax, sales tax and federal excise duty obligations, credits and refunds into a unified IRIS view. The updated system will also introduce predictable, time-bound processing with auto-escalation features to give taxpayers certainty on contingent liabilities. The FBR will also retain the authority to independently transition tax appeals into a faceless, phased format. Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2026
Mumbai: It is India's fourth biggest company by revenue, but the managing director of precious metals trader Rajesh Exports (REL) apparently doesn't know how and from where it gets the biggest chunk of the revenue, show the findings of a regulatory investigation.In its investigation report, the Securities and Exchange Board of India observed allegedly unscrupulous activities by REL's promoters, such as accounting irregularities and siphoning off of company funds into personal accounts, and also pointed out lapses by its auditors. The regulator said the company and its auditors were non-cooperative."The acts of REL constitute a deliberate device, scheme and artifice to mislead and defraud investors dealing in the shares of REL by portraying an inflated and misleading picture of its operational scale, revenue and financial health," Sebi observed in its report.The company, eponymously named after its chairman Rajesh Mehta, is accused of committing an elaborate financial fraud that includes dressing-up of revenues of ₹15.15 lakh crore over the years, personal gold trades covered up as corporate sales and phoney gold mine investments of ₹1,035 crore, according to the interim report.REL denied the charges of misdeeds. In a press release Thursday, the company said the revenues stated in its financials were correct and that the confusion arose because of a mix-up between Ebitda and revenue numbers at Swiss refiner Valcambi SA, an indirect subsidiary.Sebi has not made any adverse observation with regard to earnings, the company said, claiming that the regulator has only observed suspicion with regard to revenues which was primarily because of confusion over the Valcambi numbers.Numbers don't add upIn fiscal 2025, REL reported consolidated revenue of ₹4.23 lakh crore against a profit after tax of just ₹95 crore, translating into a net margin of barely 0.02%. The year before, on ₹2.8 lakh crore revenue, profit was ₹336 crore.Experts who have studied the Sebi report and the company's annual reports say the numbers did not add up. The business appeared to be operating at margins that were not merely thin but structurally negligible, they said."It looks like a case of pass-through accounting. There is no value creation. It was 'flow of gold' being booked as revenue," said a leading auditor on the condition of anonymity.Sebi, which began the investigations in March 2024 following a shareholder complaint about suspected accounting malpractices, said it found that about 97-99% of REL's consolidated revenues were attributed to its overseas subsidiaries, principally Valcambi. But Valcambi's own accounts, audited by KPMG SA, recorded only processing fees that were about ₹3,027 crore across five years.Valcambi refined gold on behalf of clients and never took ownership of the precious metal or recognised the value of gold as revenue in its books. Yet, Global Gold Refineries AG (GGR), the parent of Valcambi that had no independent operating business, recorded gross revenues running into hundreds of crores by including the gross value of gold that actually belonged to others, according to the Sebi report.Rajesh Exports, which owns GGR through a Singapore subsidiary, used those unaudited figures in its financial statements, significantly bumping up the company's revenue, it said.In its press release, REL said: "The core observation in the order is with regard to the misreporting of the revenues. This has emerged primarily due to confusion because Sebi has considered the Ebitda of Valcambi instead of revenue hence it has stated that there is a difference of about 97% in the revenue.""There is no reason for any listed entity to inflate revenue and maintain the earnings, this will only reduce the margins of the company, which would be adverse to the company," it said.Senior management in the darkThe senior management of REL told regulators that most of them were in the dark about the company's overseas operations and only the promoter, Rajesh Mehta, dealt with those activities."Valcambi SA does not have any gold mine on its own," managing director Suresh Gowda was quoted in the Sebi order as saying. "It refines the raw gold purchased by it from various entities, whose names I do not recollect, as these things are exclusively handled by Rajesh Mehta, chairman of REL. I have never interacted nor involved with any subsidiary/step-down subsidiary of REL, as these were exclusively taken care of by Rajesh Mehta," he told the investigators, as per the order.According to the report, REL booked ₹11,487 crore in sales between 2021-22 and 2023-24 to Affluence Shares and Stocks, a broker that made up to 66% of the company's standalone revenue for that period. But Affluence, in formal depositions to the regulator, said it had not done any business with REL.Following the transaction trail, the investigators found out that the transactions were personal gold derivative trades executed by promoter Mehta using his own brokerage account and then recorded in the company's books as corporate sales, the order said.The investigators also found that Mehta used corporate funds. As per the Sebi observations, bank records show REL transferred ₹338.90 crore directly into Mehta's personal accounts between April 2020 and September 2025.Unlike in the case of Nirav Modi or Gitanjali Gems, who are accused of bank fraud, Rajesh Exports doesn't appear to have borrowed big from banks or through sale of bonds, according to regulatory filings.The company's market cap was just over ₹3,000 crore, as per Thursday's closing share price. LIC (10.8%) and Bridge India Fund (8.46%) are its major institutional shareholders."It is striking that, even at a peak market capitalisation of ₹25,000 crore, the company did not hold any analyst calls, a basic expectation for a listed company of that scale," said Shriram Subramanian, founder and managing director of InGovern Research Services, a corporate governance advisory firm.The regulator in 2024 hired BDO India Services to investigate. But the forensic audit faced problems at almost every stage of the investigation. It was denied access to ERP systems and was not provided a complete journal dump, preventing independent verification of transactions recorded in the books, according to the regulatory report.And the company declined to share subsidiary-level records with the investigator, citing Swiss data protection laws, limiting auditors largely to reviewing financial statements prepared by the management itself rather than underlying evidence, it said.What's also come under the scanner was the conduct of statutory auditors for the last few years: CA PV Ramana Reddy, the proprietor at PV Ramana Reddy & Co, and CA PL Venkatadri, partner at BSD & Co.The company's FY24 and FY25 annual reports, filed with the stock exchanges, carry an unqualified opinion from BSD & Co, which concluded that the financial statements presented a "true and fair view" in line with Indian Accounting Standards.The company's FY24 Directors' Report noted that the statutory and secretarial auditors had made no qualifications, reservations or adverse remarks.The Sebi report said for over five months, the auditors sat on the regulator's request for missing documents and statements.Emails sent to both audit firms did not elicit any response.REL closed 5% lower at ₹103.92 Thursday on the NSE. The shares are down from their peak of ₹1,028.40 on February 6, 2023.
President Trump's former national security adviser, John Bolton, will plead guilty to one count of retaining classified national security information, two sources say. CBS News legal reporter Katrina Kaufman has more.
MANILA, Philippines — The three cases of kidnapping with homicide and serious illegal detention against fugitive businessman Charlie “Atong” Ang in connection with missing sabungeros (cockfighting enthusiasts) will now be handled by Quezon City courts. Department of Justice (DOJ) spokesperson Polo Martinez confirmed this on Thursday, citing a Supreme Court en banc resolution on Feb.
Anna Estevao handled the cross-examination of Cassie Ventura at Sean "Diddy" Combs' trial. Now she's representing the former Venezuelan president.
Donald Trump's former national security advisor turned nemesis, John Bolton, is expected to plead guilty to mishandling classified documents.
The building at the center of the deadly explosion at Hanwha Aerospace's Daejeon facility handled large volumes of volatile solvents and materials for rocket propellants, according to safety reports Thursday. Reports submitted by the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency to Rep. Cho Ji-yeon of the People Power Party show that Building No. 56 — the site of Monday's blast — used roughly 8.2 metric tons of cleaning solvents and 36 metric tons of propellants each month during the second half o
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A former Saga prefectural police technician mishandled DNA tests in 239 cases, including 37 in which proper analysis might have helpe
The arrested owner of the Malviya Nagar hotel allegedly admitted the building lacked a fire NOC and claimed another person handled its operations and alterations.
Delhi Malviya Nagar fire highlights: Delhi Police are searching for Jai Mishra, manager of Flourish Stay BnB, where a fire killed 21 people, including 18 foreigners. Arrested owner Lavkesh Bajaj told investigators Mishra handled daily operations. Police said Mishra is absconding and raids are underway.
Fewer than one in 10 SEW customers satisfied with firm’s handling of supply crisis, which left tens of thousands without water South East Water failed to adequately communicate with customers during outages last winter that left tens of thousands of people without water, a report has concluded. Fewer than one in 10 SEW customers were satisfied with how the company handled the water supply crisis that stretched across parts of Kent and Sussex last winter, the consumer council for water (CCW) said. The report found communication was the company’s greatest failing. Continue reading...
A citizen watchdog has been launched in the Philippines to monitor Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio’s impeachment trial, as turmoil inside the Senate threatens to deepen public doubts over whether the politically explosive proceedings can be handled fairly and constitutionally. Members of civil society launched the coalition, called Bantay Senado (Senate Watch), on Monday, saying it would “help ensure that the impeachment trial is conducted transparently, fairly and forthwith, in keeping with...
Today, the Amsterdam court will consider a lawsuit filed by the Cent
Actor Ji Chang-wook has been assessed billions of won in additional taxes following an audit by South Korea's National Tax Service, the latest in a series of high-profile tax disputes involving popular Korean entertainers, including Cha Eun-woo and Kim Seon-ho. According to local reports published Tuesday, the Seoul Regional Tax Office imposed additional taxes after allegedly identifying issues related to underreported or improperly handled taxes during a nonroutine audit conducted around March.
The Trump administration on Tuesday formally appealed a judge's order for refunds of the US president's global tariffs after they were struck down by the Supreme Court earlier this year.At stake is some $166 billion in revenue. A refunds system handled by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has already begun to process repayments.Last month, the CBP said in a court filing that it was on track to process about $85 billion in repayments, with $20.6 billion approved for disbursement.But the latest appeal could potentially impact this operation.After returning to the White House last year, President Donald Trump moved swiftly to impose sweeping tariffs on allies and competitors alike, tapping the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to target different countries with different rates.In February this year, the high court ruled that Trump had exceeded his authority in imposing these duties.A judge of the Court of International Trade has since ruled that refunds should take place, although giving room for the CBP to comply with the order.The agency estimated in March that more than 330,000 importers could be eligible for repayments.Hundreds of companies have sought to get their money back, including small businesses and major firms like delivery and freight giant FedEx and warehouse retailer Costco.Trump however has said that he would remember US companies that did not seek tariff refunds, signaling that he might view them more favorably.Since the Supreme Court ruling -- which did not affect Trump's sector-specific tariffs -- the US leader has tapped separate authorities to slap a new 10-percent tariff on imports.This is temporary, however, as US officials move to enact more lasting duties.
The Trump administration on Tuesday formally appealed against a judge’s order for refunds of the US president’s global tariffs after they were struck down by the Supreme Court earlier this year. At stake is some US$166 billion in revenue. A refunds system handled by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has already begun to process repayments. Last month, the CBP said in a court filing that it was on track to process about US$85 billion in repayments, with US$20.6 billion approved for...
Nobitex handled roughly US$5 billion (S$6.4 billion) in transactions from 2025 to March 2026.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said an investigation into how police officers handled the case of a murder victim amid outrage over his treatment must "be carried out as quickly as possible and answers delivered".